Portable electronic device and method of controlling same

ABSTRACT

A method includes displaying a shutter adjacent to a boundary of an information display region on a display of a portable electronic device, the information display region for displaying first information; receiving an input associated with the shutter; and displaying second information.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The present disclosure relates to portable electronic devices and thecontrol of such portable electronic devices.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices, including portable electronic devices, have gainedwidespread use and may provide a variety of functions including, forexample, telephonic, electronic messaging and other personal informationmanager (PIM) application functions. Portable electronic devicesinclude, for example, several types of mobile stations such as simplecellular telephones, smart telephones, wireless personal digitalassistants (PDAs), and laptop computers with wireless 802.11 orBluetooth capabilities.

Portable electronic devices such as PDAs or smart telephones aregenerally intended for handheld use and ease of portability. Smallerdevices are generally desirable for portability. A touch-sensitivedisplay, also known as a touchscreen display, is particularly useful onhandheld devices, which are small and have limited space for user inputand output.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, by way ofexample only, with reference to the attached figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system including portable electronicdevices;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of one example of a portableelectronic device in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of controllinga portable electronic device in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 illustrate an example of a portable electronic devicereceiving input at a navigation device in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate other examples of a portable electronic devicereceiving input in accordance with the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method ofcontrolling a portable electronic device in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following describes an apparatus for and method of controlling aportable electronic device. When the method is performed, secondinformation may be displayed when a shutter is selected. The secondinformation may receive input to modify first information that isdisplayed in the display region.

In an aspect there is provided, a method including: displaying a shutteradjacent to a boundary of an information display region on a display ofa portable electronic device, the information display region fordisplaying first information; receiving an input associated with theshutter; and displaying second information.

In another aspect there is provided, a portable electronic deviceincluding: a display configured to display a shutter adjacent to aboundary of an information display region on the display, theinformation display region for displaying first information; and aprocessor connected to the touch-sensitive display to: receiving aninput associated with the shutter; and displaying second information.

For simplicity and clarity of illustration, reference numerals may berepeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogouselements. Numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding ofthe embodiments described herein. The embodiments may be practicedwithout these details. In other instances, well-known methods,procedures, and components have not been described in detail to avoidobscuring the embodiments described. The description is not to beconsidered as limited to the scope of the embodiments described herein.

Referring to FIG. 1, a communication system 100 in which embodiments ofthe technology can be applied is generally shown. The communicationsystem 100 may include a number of portable electronic devices 103 thatmay be connected to the remainder of system 100 in any of severaldifferent ways. Accordingly, several instances of portable electronicdevices 103 are depicted in FIG. 1 employing different example ways ofconnecting to system 100. FIG. 1 is provided by way of example only, andthose persons skilled in the art will appreciate that additionalelements and modifications may be necessary to make the portableelectronic device, e.g., 103 work in particular network environments.While in the illustrated embodiments, the portable electronic devices,e.g., 103 may comprise smart phones, in other embodiments, however, theportable electronic devices may comprise personal digital assistants(PDA), tablet computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, servers,or other portable electronic devices capable of sending and receivingelectronic messages.

Portable electronic devices 103 are connected to a wireless network 101that may comprise one or more of a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) 102and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) 104 or other suitable networkarrangements. In some embodiments, the portable electronic devices 103are configured to communicate over both the WWAN 102 and WLAN 104, andto roam between these networks. In some embodiments, the wirelessnetwork 101 may comprise multiple WWANs 102 and WLANs 104.

The WWAN 102 may be implemented as any suitable wireless access networktechnology. By way of example, but not limitation, the WWAN 102 may beimplemented as a wireless network that includes a number of transceiverbase stations 108 where each of the base stations 108 provides wirelessRadio Frequency (RF) coverage to a corresponding area or cell. The WWAN102 is typically operated by a mobile network service provider thatprovides subscription packages to users of the portable electronicdevices 103. In some embodiments, the WWAN 102 conforms to one or moreof the following wireless network types: Mobitex Radio Network, DataTAC,GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication), GPRS (General Packet RadioSystem), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), CDMA (Code DivisionMultiple Access), CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data), iDEN (integratedDigital Enhanced Network), EvDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) CDMA2000,EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution), UMTS (Universal MobileTelecommunication Systems), HSPDA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access),IEEE 802.16e (also referred to as Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access or “WiMAX”), or various other networks. Although WWAN102 is described as a “Wide-Area” network, that term is intended hereinalso to incorporate wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMAN) and othersimilar technologies for providing coordinated service wirelessly overan area larger than that covered by typical WLANs.

The WWAN 102 may further comprise a wireless network gateway 110 thatconnects the portable electronic devices 103 to transport facilities112, and through the transport facilities 112 to a wireless connectorsystem 120. Transport facilities may include one or more privatenetworks or lines, the Internet, a virtual private network, or any othersuitable network. The wireless connector system 120 may be operated, forexample, by an organization or enterprise such as a corporation,university, or governmental department, which allows access to a network124 such as an internal or enterprise network (e.g., an intranet) andits resources, or the wireless connector system 120 may be operated by amobile network provider. In some embodiments, the network 124 may berealized using the Internet rather than or in addition to an internal orenterprise network.

The wireless network gateway 110 provides an interface between thewireless connector system 120 and the WWAN 102, which facilitatescommunication between the portable electronic devices 103 and otherdevices (not shown) connected, directly or indirectly, to the WWAN 102.Accordingly, communications sent via the portable electronic devices 103are transported via the WWAN 102 and the wireless network gateway 110through transport facilities 112 to the wireless connector system 120.Communications sent from the wireless connector system 120 are receivedby the wireless network gateway 110 and transported via the WWAN 102 tothe portable electronic devices 103.

The WLAN 104 comprises a wireless network that, in some embodiments,conforms to IEEE 802.11x standards (sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi™)such as, for example, the IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b and/or 802.11g standard.Other communication protocols may be used for the WLAN 104 in otherembodiments such as, for example, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.16e (alsoreferred to as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or“WiMAX”), or IEEE 802.20 (also referred to as Mobile Wireless BroadbandAccess). The WLAN 104 includes one or more wireless RF Access Points(AP) 114 (one of which is shown in FIG. 1) that collectively provide aWLAN coverage area.

The WLAN 104 may be a personal network of the user, an enterprisenetwork, or a hotspot offered by an internet service provider (ISP), amobile network provider, or a property owner in a public or semi-publicarea, for example. The access points 114 are connected to an accesspoint (AP) interface 116 that may connect to the wireless connectorsystem 120 directly (for example, if the access point 114 is part of anenterprise WLAN 104 in which the wireless connector system 120 resides),or indirectly as indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 1 via thetransport facilities 112 if the access point 114 is a personal Wi-Finetwork or Wi-Fi hotspot (in which case a mechanism for securelyconnecting to the wireless connector system 120, such as a virtualprivate network (VPN), may be used). The AP interface 116 providestranslation and routing services between the access points 114 and thewireless connector system 120 to facilitate communication, directly orindirectly, with the wireless connector system 120.

The wireless connector system 120 may be implemented as one or moreservers, and is typically located behind a firewall 113. The wirelessconnector system 120 manages communications, including email, HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP), and HTTP Secure (HTTPS) communications to andfrom a set of managed portable electronic devices 103. The wirelessconnector system 120 also provides administrative control and managementcapabilities over users and portable electronic devices 103 that mayconnect to the wireless connector system 120.

The wireless connector system 120 allows the portable electronic devices103 to access the network 124 and connected resources and services suchas a messaging server 132 (for example, a Microsoft Exchange Server®,IBM Lotus Domino®, or Novell GroupWise™ email server), a content server134 for providing content such as Internet content or content from anorganization's internal servers, application servers 136 forimplementing server-based applications such as instant messaging (IM)applications to portable electronic devices 103, and intranet fileservices.

The wireless connector system 120 typically provides a secure exchangeof data (e.g., email messages, personal information manager (PIM) data,and IM data) with the portable electronic devices 103. In someembodiments, communications between the wireless connector system 120and the portable electronic devices 103 are encrypted. In someembodiments, communications are encrypted using a symmetric encryptionkey implemented using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or Triple DataEncryption Standard (Triple DES) encryption. Private encryption keys aregenerated in a secure, two-way authenticated environment and are usedfor both encryption and decryption of data. In some embodiments, theprivate encryption key is stored only in the user's mailbox on themessaging server 132 and on the portable electronic devices 103, and cantypically be regenerated by the user on portable electronic devices 103.Data sent to the portable electronic devices 103 is encrypted by thewireless connector system 120 using the private encryption key retrievedfrom the user's mailbox. The encrypted data, when received on theportable electronic devices 103, is decrypted using the privateencryption key stored in memory. Similarly, data sent to the wirelessconnector system 120 from the portable electronic devices 103 isencrypted using the private encryption key stored in the memory of theportable electronic devices 103. The encrypted data, when received onthe wireless connector system 120, is decrypted using the privateencryption key retrieved from the user's mailbox.

The wireless network gateway 110 is adapted to send data packetsreceived from the portable electronic devices 103 over the WWAN 102 tothe wireless connector system 120. The wireless connector system 120then sends the data packets to the appropriate connection point such asthe messaging server 132 or content servers 134 or application server136. Conversely, the wireless connector system 120 sends data packetsreceived, for example, from the messaging server 132 or content servers134 or application servers 136 to the wireless network gateway 110 thatthen transmit the data packets to the destination portable electronicdevices 103. The AP interfaces 116 of the WLAN 104 provide similarsending functions between the portable electronic devices 103, thewireless connector system 120 and network connection point such as themessaging server 132, content server 134 and application server 136.

The network 124 may comprise a private local area network, metropolitanarea network, wide area network, the public Internet or combinationsthereof and may include virtual networks constructed using any of these,alone, or in combination. A portable electronic devices 103 mayalternatively connect to the wireless connector system 120 using acomputer 117, such as desktop or notebook computer, via the network 124.A link 106 may be provided for exchanging information between theportable electronic devices 103 and a computer 117 connected to thewireless connector system 120. The link 106 may comprise one or both ofa physical interface and short-range wireless communication interface.The physical interface may comprise one or combinations of an Ethernetconnection, Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection, Firewire™ (also knownas an IEEE 1394 interface) connection, or other serial data connection,via respective ports or interfaces of the portable electronic devices103 and computer 117. The short-range wireless communication interfacemay be a personal area network (PAN) interface. A Personal Area Networkis a wireless point-to-point connection meaning no physical cables areused to connect the two end points. The short-range wirelesscommunication interface may comprise one or a combination of an infrared(IR) connection such as an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) connection,a short-range radio frequency (RF) connection such as one specified byIEEE 802.15.1 or the BLUETOOTH special interest group, or IEEE802.15.3a, also referred to as UltraWideband (UWB), or other PANconnection.

It will be appreciated that the above-described communication system isprovided for the purpose of illustration only, and that theabove-described communication system comprises one possiblecommunication network configuration of a multitude of possibleconfigurations for use with the portable electronic devices 103.Suitable variations of the communication system will be understood to aperson of skill in the art and are intended to fall within the scope ofthe present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a portable electronic device,such 103, in accordance with an example embodiment is illustrated. Theportable electronic device may communicate over the communicationssystem of FIG. 1 or may be a stand alone device that does not includecommunications capability. As shown, the device 200 includes amicroprocessor 238 that controls the operation of the portableelectronic device 200. A communication subsystem 211 performscommunication transmission and reception with the wireless network 219.The microprocessor 238 further can be communicatively coupled with anauxiliary input/output (I/O) subsystem 228 that can be communicativelycoupled to the portable electronic device 200. In at least oneembodiment, the microprocessor 238 can be communicatively coupled to aserial port (for example, a Universal Serial Bus port) 230 that canallow for communication with other devices or systems via the serialport 230. A display 222 can be communicatively coupled to microprocessor238 to allow for displaying of information to an operator of theportable electronic device 200. When the portable electronic device 200is equipped with a keyboard 232, the keyboard can also becommunicatively coupled with the microprocessor 238. The portableelectronic device 200 can include a speaker 234, a microphone 236,random access memory (RAM) 226, and flash memory 224 all of which may becommunicatively coupled to the microprocessor 238. Other similarcomponents may be provided on the portable electronic device 200 as welland optionally communicatively coupled to the microprocessor 238. Othercommunication subsystems 240 and other portable electronic devicesubsystems 242 are generally indicated as being functionally connectedwith the microprocessor 238 as well. An example of a communicationsubsystem 240 is a short range communication system such as BLUETOOTH®communication module or a WI-FI® communication module (a communicationmodule in compliance with IEEE 802.11b) and associated circuits andcomponents. Additionally, the microprocessor 238 is able to performoperating system functions and enables execution of programs on theportable electronic device 200. In some embodiments not all of the abovecomponents may be included in the portable electronic device 200. Forexample, in at least one embodiment the keyboard 232 is not provided asa separate component and is instead integrated with a touch screen asdescribed below.

The auxiliary I/O subsystem 228 can take the form of a variety ofdifferent navigation devices (multi-directional or single-directional)such as a trackball navigation device, a thumbwheel, a navigation pad, ajoystick, touch-sensitive interface, or other I/O interface. Thesenavigation devices may be located on the front surface of the portableelectronic device 200 or may be located on any exterior surface of theportable electronic device 200. Other auxiliary I/O subsystems mayinclude external display devices and externally connected keyboards (notshown). While the above examples have been provided in relation to theauxiliary I/O subsystem 228, other subsystems capable of providing inputor receiving output from the portable electronic device 200 areconsidered within the scope of this disclosure. Additionally, other keysmay be included to function as escape keys, volume control keys,scrolling keys, power switches, or user programmable keys, and maylikewise be programmed accordingly.

The keyboard 232 can include a plurality of keys that can be of aphysical nature such as actuable buttons, or they can be of a softwarenature, typically constituted by representations of physical keys on adisplay screen 222 (referred to herein as “virtual keys”). It is alsocontemplated that the user input can be provided as a combination of thetwo types of keys. Each key of the plurality of keys is associated withat least one action which can be the input of a character, a command ora function. In this context, “characters” are contemplated toexemplarily include alphabetic letters, language symbols, numbers,punctuation, insignias, icons, pictures, and even a blank space.

In the case of virtual keys, the indicia for the respective keys areshown on the display screen 222 which in one embodiment is enabled bytouching the display screen 222, for example, with a stylus, finger, orother pointer, to generate the character or activate the indicatedcommand or function. Some examples of display screens 222 capable ofdetecting a touch include resistive, capacitive, projected capacitive,infrared and surface acoustic wave (SAW) touch screens.

Physical and virtual keys can be combined in many different ways asappreciated by those skilled in the art. In one embodiment, physical andvirtual keys are combined such that the plurality of enabled keys for aparticular program or feature of the portable electronic device 200 isshown on the display screen 222 in the same configuration as thephysical keys. Using this configuration, the operator can select theappropriate physical key corresponding to what is shown on the displayscreen 222. Thus, the desired character, command or function is obtainedby depressing the physical key corresponding to the character, commandor function displayed at a corresponding position on the display screen222, rather than touching the display screen 222.

Furthermore, the portable electronic device, e.g. 200 is equipped withcomponents to enable operation of various programs, as shown in FIG. 1.In an example embodiment, the flash memory 224 is enabled to provide astorage location for the operating system 257, device programs 258, itemmanagement application 259 and data. The operating system 257 isgenerally configured to manage other programs 258 that are also storedin memory 224 and executable on the processor 238. The operating system257 honors requests for services made by programs 258 through predefinedprogram 258 interfaces. More specifically, the operating system 257typically determines the order in which multiple programs 258 areexecuted on the processor 238 and the execution time allotted for eachprogram 258, manages the sharing of memory 224 among multiple programs258, handles input and output to and from other device subsystems 242,and so on. In addition, operators can typically interact directly withthe operating system 257 through a user interface usually including thekeyboard 232 and display screen 222. While in an example embodiment theoperating system 257 is stored in flash memory 224, the operating system257 in other embodiments is stored in read-only memory (ROM) or similarstorage element (not shown). As those skilled in the art willappreciate, the operating system 257, device program 258 or partsthereof may be loaded in RAM 226 or other volatile memory.

In some embodiments, the flash memory 224 may contain programs 258 forexecution on the device 200, including—but not limited to—an addressbook 252, a personal information manager (PIM) 254, and a device state250. Furthermore, programs 258 and other information 256 including datacan be segregated upon storage in the flash memory 224 of the device200.

When the portable electronic device 200 is enabled for two-waycommunication within the wireless communication network 219, it can sendand receive signals from a mobile communication service. Examples ofcommunication systems enabled for two-way communication include, but arenot limited to, the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network, theUniversal Mobile Telecommunication Service (UMTS) network, the EnhancedData for Global Evolution (EDGE) network, the Code Division MultipleAccess (CDMA) network, High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) networks,Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service Time Division Duplexing(UMTS-TDD), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) networks, WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), and other networks thatcan be used for data and voice, or just data or voice. For the systemslisted above, the portable electronic device 200 may use a uniqueidentifier to enable the portable electronic device 200 to transmit andreceive signals from the communication network 219. Other systems maynot use such identifying information. GPRS, UMTS, and EDGE use aSubscriber Identity Module (SIM) in order to allow communication withthe communication network 219. Likewise, most CDMA systems use aRemovable User Identity Module (RUIM) in order to communicate with theCDMA network. The RUIM and SIM card can be used in multiple differentportable electronic devices 200. The portable electronic device 200 maybe able to operate some features without a SIM/RUIM card, but it willnot be able to communicate with the network 219. A SIM/RUIM interface244 located within the portable electronic device 200 allows for removalor insertion of a SIM/RUIM card (not shown). The SIM/RUIM card featuresmemory and holds key configurations 251, and other information 253 suchas identification and subscriber related information. With a properlyenabled portable electronic device 200, two-way communication betweenthe portable electronic device 200 and communication network 219 ispossible.

If the portable electronic device 200 is enabled as described above orthe communication network 219 does not use such enablement, the two-waycommunication enabled portable electronic device 200 is able to bothtransmit and receive information from the communication network 219. Thetransfer of communication can be from the portable electronic device 200or to the portable electronic device 200. In order to communicate withthe communication network 219, the device 200 can be equipped with anintegral or internal antenna 218 for transmitting signals to thecommunication network 419. Likewise the device 200 can be equipped withanother antenna 216 for receiving communication from the communicationnetwork 219. These antennae (216, 218) in another example embodiment arecombined into a single antenna (not shown). As one skilled in the artwould appreciate, the antenna or antennae (216, 218) in anotherembodiment can be externally mounted on the portable electronic device200.

When equipped for two-way communication, the portable electronic device200 features a communication subsystem 211. As is understood in the art,this communication subsystem 211 is modified so that it can support theoperational needs of the portable electronic device 200. The subsystem211 includes a transmitter 214 and receiver 212 including the associatedantenna or antennae (216, 218) as described above, local oscillators(LOs) 213, and a processing module that in the presently describedexample embodiment is a digital signal processor (DSP) 220.

It is contemplated that communication by the portable electronic device200 with the wireless network 219 can be any type of communication thatboth the wireless network 219 and portable electronic device 200 areenabled to transmit, receive and process. In general, these can beclassified as voice and data. Voice communication generally refers tocommunication in which signals for audible sounds are transmitted by theportable electronic device 200 through the communication network 219.Data generally refers to all other types of communication that theportable electronic device 200 is capable of performing within theconstraints of the wireless network 219.

Example device programs that can depend on such data include email,contacts and calendars. For each such program, synchronization withhome-based versions of the program can be desirable for either or bothof their long term and short term utility. As an example, emails areoften time-sensitive, so substantially real time (or near-real time)synchronization may be desired. Contacts, on the other hand, can beusually updated less frequently without inconvenience. Therefore, theutility of the portable electronic device 200 is enhanced whenconnectable within a communication system, and when connectable on awireless basis in a network 219 in which voice, text messaging, andother data transfer are accommodated. Device 200 can include programssuch as a web browser, a file browser, and client programs forinteracting with server programs. Devices, e.g., 103, 200, for use inthe technology can be characterized by an identification number assignedto the device. Such identification numbers cannot be changed and arelocked to each device.

A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, andtraversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An informationresource can be identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), e.g.,a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), and may be a web page, image, video,or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable usersto navigate browsers to related resources. Although browsers areprimarily intended to access the World Wide Web, they can also be usedto access information provided by servers in private networks or filesin file systems. Some browsers can be also used to save informationresources to file systems. Browsers are frequently used to access Websearch engines such as Google™ search services, Bing™ search services,and services such as Wikipedia® encyclopedia. Browsers typically have anaddress bar for entering URLs. An address bar (also location bar or URLbar) is a widget in a web browser that either reflects the current URLor accepts typing-in a target URL.

A mobile browser, also called a micro-browser, mini-browser or wirelessinternet browser (WIB), is a web browser designed for use on a mobiledevice such as device 103. Mobile browser software is typically smallerand more memory-efficient than desktop browser software to accommodatethe low memory capacity and low-bandwidth of wireless handheld devices.The mobile browser usually connects, as described above in connectionwith FIG. 1, via a cellular network, or increasingly via Wireless LAN,e.g., 114, using standard HTTP over TCP/IP and displays web pageswritten in HTML, XHTML Mobile Profile (WAP 2.0), or WML. WML and HDMLare stripped-down formats suitable for transmission across limitedbandwidth, and wireless data connection called WAP.

Mobile browsers can be configured so as to display Web content for smallscreens on portable devices. The limited screen area of mobile devicesputs display area at a premium. It would be beneficial to increase boththe area, and the amount of time, allocated to displaying content overdisplaying controls in a mobile browser.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of controllinga portable electronic device 103, 200. The method may be carried out bysoftware executed by, for example, the processor 238. Coding of softwarefor carrying out such a method is within the scope of a person ofordinary skill in the art given the present description. The method maycontain additional or fewer processes than shown and described, and maybe performed in a different order. Computer-readable code executable by,for example, the processor 238 of the portable electronic device 103 toperform the method, may be stored in a computer-readable medium.

The method of FIG. 3 includes displaying 300 a shutter adjacent aboundary of an information display region on a display screen of aportable electronic device, the information display region fordisplaying first information, receiving 302 input associated with theshutter and displaying 304 second information. The second informationmay be related to the first information or may be independent of thefirst information. The second information may be configured to receiveinput that may be used to modify the first information displayed in thedisplay region.

Continued reference is made to FIG. 3 with additional reference to FIGS.4 and 5 to describe one example of a method of controlling the portableelectronic device 103, 200. As shown in FIG. 3, the example portableelectronic device 400 (as another example of 103) comprises a display422 located above a keyboard 432 to facilitate user input and beingsuitable for accommodating textual input to the device 400. The device400 includes an auxiliary input that acts as a navigation device 402 formoving an indicator 408 and that may be also exteriorly located upon afront face 470 of the device 400. The location of the cursor navigationdevice 402 allows the tool to be thumb-actuable, e.g., similar to keysof the keyboard 432. The embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 provides thenavigation device 402 in the form of an optical trackpad, that may beutilized to instruct two-dimensional screen cursor movement insubstantially any direction. Other embodiments can provide thenavigation device in the form of a trackball, a touchpad, a pointingstick, joystick, graphics tablet, or combinations thereof. The placementof the navigation device 402 may be above the keyboard 432 and below thedisplay screen 422 to avoid interference during keyboarding and avoidblocking the operator's view of the display screen 422 during use.

In the present example, a shutter 406 is displayed 300 adjacent to abanner 404 of a mobile browser on a display screen 422 of a device 400,the mobile browser displaying information received from a website usinga mobile browser. The information may be scrolled using the navigationdevice 402, as indicated by arrow 410. When an indicator 408 is scrolledto the top of the display 422 and is adjacent to the banner 404, theshutter 406 may be highlighted, as shown in FIG. 5. Location of theindicator 408 on top of the banner 404 may also cause the shutter to behighlighted. When an input associated with the shutter 406 is received302, a browser address bar 500 is displayed 304 below the banner 404.

The browser address bar 500 may receive input, in an editable URL(Uniform Resource Locator) display region 502, for example, that maymodify the first information displayed in the display region. Theshutter 406 may include a shutter operator 412, which generallyindicates the direction of expansion in order to display the secondinformation or the direction of contraction in order to hide the secondinformation. The browser address bar 500 may include the editable URLdisplay region 502 such as www.news.com, for example, a security lockindicator 504, a URL actions icon 506, and a browsing sessions switcher508. The banner 404 can remain displayed above the browser address bar500, as shown. In some embodiments, the browser address bar 500 canappear in place of the banner 404. Further, information and controls inaddition to, and in place of, the information and controls describedabove, such as zoom controls, URI/URL corresponding to at least one linkdisplayed on the device, time and date and search engine controls, forexample, can be displayed in the browser address bar 500.

The banner 404 displays device related information such as an icon andtitle of the current displayed page, the total number of messages in ane-mail inbox of the device along with an asterisked envelope indicatingthe number of unread messages, e.g., “3;” an indication of an activemobile communication network to which the device is connected, e.g.,“3G;” and an indication of signal strength.

In some embodiments, the browser address bar 500 can be displayed uponthe device receiving an action, such as selection of the shutter 406 orshutter operator 412 on the display 422, selection of a menu command todisplay the browser address bar 500, positioning a cursor over theshutter or shutter operator, positioning of the indicator 408 over thebanner 404, or selection of the banner 404. In some embodiments, theshutter 406 may not be continuously displayed. The device can displaythe shutter 406 or shutter operator 412 upon receiving an action fordisplaying the shutter such as selecting the banner 404, bumping theindicator into a boundary, hovering the indicator over a predeterminedarea of the display using the navigation device 402 or clicking apredetermined area of the display using the navigation device 402. Thebrowser address bar 500 may then be displayed upon receiving asubsequent action.

The shutter 406, shutter operator 412 or both can appear at differentpositions on the display 422. The shutter 406 can appear at the top ofthe display 422, as shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, or can appear at a sideor bottom of the display 422, for example. The shutter operator 412 canbe displayed with or without the shutter 406.

In one example, the shutter is not continuously displayed on thedisplay. The shutter can be displayed when an indicator is adjacent tothe shutter and scrolling input is received at a navigation device, thescrolling input being directed toward the shutter.

Continued reference is made to FIG. 3 with additional reference to FIGS.7 and 8 to describe another example of a method of controlling theportable electronic device 103, 200. As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, anexample portable electronic device 600 (as another example of 103)comprises a touch-sensitive display 622 for accommodating input to thedevice 600. In some embodiments, a keyboard (not shown) can be part ofthe touch-sensitive display 622. A front face 670 of the device 600 hasa navigation row 680. As shown, the device 600 is generally of uni-bodyconstruction. The device 600 can be configured to send and receivemessages. The device 600 includes a body 671 that may, in someembodiments, be configured to be held in one hand by an operator of thedevice 600 during text entry. A display 622 is included that is locatedon a front face 670 of the body 671 and upon which information isdisplayed to the operator, e.g., during text entry. Further, the device600 can be configured to operate a web browser.

The touch-sensitive display 622 can be any suitable touch-sensitivedisplay, such as a capacitive, resistive, infrared, surface acousticwave (SAW) touch-sensitive display, strain gauge, optical imaging,dispersive signal technology, acoustic pulse recognition, and so forth,as known in the art. A capacitive touch-sensitive display can include acapacitive touch-sensitive overlay. The overlay can be an assembly ofmultiple layers in a stack including, for example, a substrate, a groundshield layer, a barrier layer, one or more capacitive touch sensorlayers separated by a substrate or other barrier, and a cover. Thecapacitive touch sensor layers can be any suitable material, such aspatterned indium tin oxide (ITO).

One or more touches, also known as touch contacts or touch events, canbe detected by the touch-sensitive display 622. The processor 238 candetermine attributes of the touch, including a location of a touch.Touch location data can include an area of contact or a single point ofcontact, such as a point at or near a center of the area of contact. Thelocation of a detected touch can include x and y components, e.g.,horizontal and vertical components, respectively, with respect to one'sview of the touch-sensitive display 622. For example, the x locationcomponent can be determined by a signal generated from one touch sensor,and the y location component can be determined by a signal generatedfrom another touch sensor. A signal is provided to the controller of thetouch-sensitive display 622 in response to detection of a touch. A touchcan be detected from any suitable object, such as a finger, thumb,appendage, or other items, for example, a stylus, pen, or other pointer,depending on the nature of the touch-sensitive display 622. Multiplesimultaneous touches can be detected.

The touch-sensitive display 622 is also configured to detect a gesture.A gesture, such as a swipe, is a type of touch, that begins at an originpoint and continues to a finishing point while touch contact ismaintained. A swipe can be long or short in distance, or duration, orboth distance and duration. Two points of the swipe can be utilized todetermine a vector that describes a direction of the swipe. Thedirection can be referenced with respect to the touch-sensitive display622, the orientation of the information displayed on the touch-sensitivedisplay 622, or another reference. For the purposes of providing areference, “horizontal” as utilized herein is substantiallyleft-to-right or right-to-left relative to the orientation of thedisplayed information, and “vertical” as utilized herein issubstantially upward or downward relative to the orientation of thedisplayed information. The origin point and the finishing point of theswipe can be utilized to determine the magnitude or distance of theswipe. The duration of the swipe can be determined from the origin pointand finishing point of the swipe in time. The processor 238 receivesdata from the controller to determine the direction, magnitude, andduration of the swipe. The gesture can be tracked and a plurality ofsub-vectors determined for each gesture. The final sub-vector can beutilized to determine a distance and duration of a final portion of thegesture. The processor 238 receives data from the controller todetermine the speed of the swipe based on the distance and duration ofthe final portion of the gesture.

Actuators can be disposed beneath the touch-sensitive display 622 andcan be depressed or activated by applying sufficient force to thetouch-sensitive display 622 to overcome the actuation force of theactuator. The actuators can provide input to the processor 238 whenactuated. Actuation of the actuator(s) can result in provision oftactile feedback. Force sensors can work in combination with theactuators to measure an applied force. Force generally refers to forcemeasurements, estimates, and/or calculations, such as pressure,deformation, stress, strain, force density, force-area relationships,thrust, torque, and other effects that include force or relatedquantities.

In the example of FIGS. 6 and 7, the shutter 406 is displayed 300adjacent the bottom of an information display region, which is a textfield 612 of a text editor or word processing application in thisexample, on the touch-sensitive display 622 of device 600. When a touchassociated with the shutter is received 302, as shown in FIG. 7, avirtual keyboard is displayed 304, as shown in FIG. 8. The informationdisplayed in the information display region can be text and othercharacters.

In touch-sensitive display embodiments, actions for displaying one ormore of the shutter 406, shutter operator 412, and browser address bar500 include touching the screen at a predetermined area, pressing anddragging toward or away from an edge of the display, hovering over apredetermined area of the display, touching a predetermined area of thedisplay or touching the shutter or shutter operator.

Referring to FIG. 9, another method of controlling a portable electronicdevice 103 is shown. The method includes: displaying 900 a shutteroperator, receiving 902 a shutter opening action at the shutteroperator, displaying 904 a browser address bar, receiving 906 a shutterclosing action and closing 908 the address bar. Browser address barclosing actions include selecting the shutter operator, scrolling thebrowser address bar off the display, entering a web address in the aneditable URL display region 502, selecting a URL actions icon 506 orbrowsing sessions switcher icon 508.

The methods described herein can be implemented using hardware, softwareor both hardware and software elements. In some embodiments, the methodsare implemented in software, which includes but is not limited tofirmware, resident software, microcode, a Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA) or Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc. Inparticular, for real-time or near real-time use, an FPGA or ASICimplementation is desirable.

Furthermore, the methods described herein can take the form of acomputer program product comprising program modules accessible fromcomputer-usable or computer-readable medium storing program code for useby or in connection with one or more computers, processors, orinstruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, acomputer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus thatcan contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program foruse by or in connection with the instruction execution system,apparatus, or device. The medium can be an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (orapparatus or device) or a propagation medium (though propagation mediumsin and of themselves as signal carriers are not included in thedefinition of physical computer-readable medium). Examples of a physicalcomputer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory,magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory(RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an opticaldisk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read onlymemory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD. Bothprocessors and program code for implementing each as aspect of thetechnology can be centralized or distributed (or a combination thereof)as known to those skilled in the art.

A data processing system suitable for storing a computer program productof the methods described herein and for executing the program code ofthe computer program product will include at least one processor coupleddirectly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. Thememory elements can include local memory employed during actualexecution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories thatprovide temporary storage of at least some program code in order toreduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storageduring execution. Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limitedto keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to thesystem either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. Networkadapters can also be coupled to the system to enable the data processingsystem to become coupled to other data processing systems or remoteprinters or storage devices through intervening private or publicnetworks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of thecurrently available types of network adapters. Such systems can becentralized or distributed, e.g., in peer-to-peer and client/serverconfigurations. In some embodiments, the data processing system isimplemented using one or both of FPGAs and ASICs.

Selective display of second information accessible via the shutter, mayallow screen space for viewing first information to be increased. Itwill be appreciated that the shutter may be selected to display secondinformation and hide second information. Alternatively, the shutter maybe selected to display second information but not hide secondinformation. Similarly, the shutter may be selected to hide secondinformation but not display second information.

The present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the present disclosure is, therefore,indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription. All changes that come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: displaying a shutteradjacent to a boundary of an information display region on a display ofa portable electronic device, the information display region configuredto display a virtual keyboard on a portion of the information displayregion and the shutter configured to activate and deactivate the virtualkeyboard; the shutter including a shutter operator that indicates adirection of a scrolling input pointing away from the boundary of theinformation display region to display the virtual keyboard, the shutteroperator changing to indicate a direction of a scrolling input pointingtowards the boundary of the information display region to hide thevirtual keyboard; receiving the scrolling input associated with theshutter; and responsive to receiving the scrolling input, displaying thevirtual keyboard when the scrolling input is in the direction pointingaway from the boundary of the information display region, and hiding thevirtual keyboard when the scrolling input is in the direction pointingtowards the boundary of the information display region.
 2. A method asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the shutter is continuously displayed.
 3. Amethod as claimed in claim 1, wherein the boundary is at one of: a top,a side and a bottom of the information display region.
 4. A method asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the input is received from a navigationdevice, the navigation device being one of: an optical trackpad, atouch-sensitive display, a trackball, a pointing stick, a joystick and agraphics tablet.
 5. A portable electronic device comprising: a displayconfigured to display a shutter adjacent to a boundary of an informationdisplay region on the display, the information display region configuredto display a virtual keyboard on a portion of the information displayregion and the shutter configured to activate and deactivate the virtualkeyboard; the shutter including a shutter operator that indicates adirection of a scrolling input pointing away from the boundary of theinformation display region to display the virtual keyboard, the shutteroperator changing to indicate a direction of a scrolling input pointingtowards the boundary of the information display region to hide thevirtual keyboard a navigation device for receiving the scrolling inputassociated with the shutter; and a processor communicatively coupledwith the display and the navigation device, the processor configured tocause the display to display the virtual keyboard when the scrollinginput is in the direction pointing away from the boundary of theinformation display region, and hide the virtual keyboard when thescrolling input is in the direction pointing towards the boundary of theinformation display region.
 6. A portable electronic device as claimedin claim 5, wherein the navigation device is one of: an opticaltrackpad, a touch-sensitive display, a trackball, a pointing stick, ajoystick and a graphics tablet.
 7. A non-transitory computer readablemedium comprising computer instructions which, when executed by aprocessor of a portable electronic device, cause the processor to:display a shutter adjacent to a boundary of an information displayregion on a display of a portable electronic device, the informationdisplay region configured to display a virtual keyboard on a portion ofthe information display region and the shutter configured to activateand deactivate the virtual keyboard; the shutter including a shutteroperator that indicates a direction of a scrolling input pointing awayfrom the boundary of the information display region to display thevirtual keyboard, the shutter operator changing to indicate a directionof a scrolling input pointing towards the boundary of the informationdisplay region to hide the virtual keyboard; receive a scrolling inputassociated with the shutter; and responsive to receiving the scrollinginput, display the virtual keyboard when the scrolling input is in thedirection pointing away from the boundary of the information displayregion, and hide the virtual keyboard when the scrolling input is in thedirection pointing towards the boundary of the information displayregion.